‘Tut-tut. Keep it calm, don’t want you losing your shit and attacking people again, do we? Look, I’m here to help you. You have the opportunity to purge yourself of your sins, Oliver,’ Melissa said.

‘And if I don’t want to?’

‘Oh, you will. You’ve been desperate to rid yourself of the guilt for years. Well, now you can. You owe it to us.’

Oliver’s shoulders slumped, his usual height diminishing. He backed away from them and slid down the fence, crouching with his elbows on his bent knees. A defeated position.

‘What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry?’

‘That would be a start.’

He shrugged. ‘Then, I’m sorry. Are we done now? I’m so tired.’

For a moment his pained expression pulled at Louisa’s conscience. She almost pitied him. But then the anger flooded back in. This too, was clearly an act. He was trying to manipulate them again. ‘That’s it? All you’re going to say?’

‘You wanted an apology. You got one.’

‘You’ve got more to offload though, haven’t you? The weight of the lies must be crushing you. If you tell us the truth, here and now, the whole story of what you did and why, then we’ll be done. Then we’ll let you go,’ Melissa said.

‘Let me go?’ He laughed – a snort so loud it made Louisa jump. ‘That implies that if I don’t tell you what you want to hear, that you won’t let me go. I know there are two of you, but surely you don’t think you could prevent me from leaving?’ He shifted, getting to his feet again, and Louisa knew it was because he was suddenly concerned about his subservient position on the ground – the two of them above him taking a far more powerful stance. They’d rattled him after all.

Melissa moved away from Louisa’s side and walked over to the fence, looking over it. ‘There’s a perfectly good quarry there – a few good pushes from us, and you’d go over.’

Laughter filled the space between them. ‘Ah, that’s very humorous, Melissa.’

‘I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be laughing as you fell.’

Louisa shifted her feet. They were getting numb from the lack of movement; the discomfort at the turn the conversation had taken now making her jumpy.

‘Well, we’ll never know, will we? You haven’t got the strength. Or the guts,’ he spat.